Two things in the news today. First, Microsoft has once again, for at least the third time, granted an extension to PC manufacturers who are insisting that they still want to purchase XP. Such manufacturers can now order XP through the end of January, even if they don’t want delivery of the software until as late as May. In my recollection, this is definitely the third, and possibly the fourth, reprieve for Microsoft’s most-used-to-date operating software.
And in another survey, Microsoft is finding out that 10% or less of corporate environments have deployed Vista. Educational environments are showing a slightly higher rate of adoption, but not much, at about 15%. Corporations and institutions of higher learning are holding onto the more stable and less resource-hoggy (is that a word) XP. If Vista is deployed, it is on individual laptops that are used for travel or other off-corporate-network projects. I know our institution is not deploying Vista except into a limited number of classrooms where the software is being taught. It has not been rolled out to staff or faculty systems except for laptops that are used mostly off-grid.
Microsoft is being pressured to produce on their Windows 7 promises. A release seems likely by late 2009 as customers continue to refuse to upgrade to the Vista platform. Vista has ended up being a dismal and financial failure for Microsoft. Even though I use Vista on several machines, I still defer to my XP machines for most of my day-to-day work. Unless a corporation can afford the massive hardware upgrade that Vista requires, XP is still the way to go, and these corporations are talking with their wallets.
It would be nice to think that Windows 7 will be a more natural progression of Microsoft operating systems than Vista is. What we all wanted and needed was an upgraded XP, not something completely new and different and expensive to deploy. I don’t know if I can think that hopefully, but maybe Microsoft has learned a few lessons with Vista.